Posted by RichSlick under RantsComments Off on Sonos 5 – Beware of the Built-in Microphones That May Inevitably Be Used By Government Agencies or Bad People

Christmas is just around the corner and I have been struggling with what to buy for others and myself. I don’t really need nor want a new 4k TV since what I have now is fine – I even have TVs that I don’t use in the house! The new MacBook Pro that I’ve been waiting years for turned out to be a gimmicky garbage laptop. The new 3.5mm jackless iPhones are a no-go for me until the wireless technology can give me a FULL day use without needing recharging. Heck with 3.5 mm headphones, I never need charging!

In talking to a friend about some ideas, he told me he had just bought a new Sonos 5 and that he absolutely loved it. I read the reviews on Amazon and everyone seems pretty happy with the device. I was set to buy a few of these for my home but decided to do just a bit more research and then I found a deal killer – this device has TWO built-in MICROPHONES. Why on Earth does a speaker system need to have microphones? This isn’t a recording device, it is a sound distribution node so WTF!

History and court decisions have already shown us that any device that has any kind of snooping technology will inevitably fall into the use of government agencies and bad actors. Worse yet, to get the most out of this device, you need to connect it to the internet so how many of you want live microphones all throughout your house being broadcast to a government agency or criminal bad actors 24 hours a day seven days a week? We’ve already seen baby monitors, OnStar systems, telephones, and probably a thousand other things we don’t know about yet but I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to add Sonos devices to that list.

Sadly, I won’t be buying any Sonos products anytime soon until this issue is addressed so in the meantime I am looking at alternatives that have more security in mind that stupid features that serve no real purpose.